A flaw in the current guidance means a patient who has only had a biopsy, which is a diagnostic procedure, is counted as having been treated.
Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty Images

Patients with bladder cancer are having to wait almost five months for treatment, far beyond the 62 days that NHS rules say is the longest delay anyone should face.

People with the disease have been forced to endure long waits because of a “loophole” in NHS cancer waiting time guidance, which charities say should be closed urgently.

A flaw in the guidance means a patient who has only had a biopsy, which is a diagnostic procedure, is counted as having been treated, and thus the 62-day countdown stops, even when their cancer has spread. When that happens they can then not undergo treatment for weeks and sometimes for months.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, has written to his counterpart, Matt Hancock, urging him to act so that people with bladder cancer start to get their care within 62 days.

“I am concerned that this loophole is hiding the true picture of patient waits, concealing the fact that patients with bladder cancer are having to wait nearly five months for their first treatment,” Ashworth said.

Long waits occur because under current practice patients who undergo a procedure called a transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) are deemed to have been treated, despite it being used to diagnose their illness.

“The clock effectively stops for people with bladder cancer once they have received their first TURBT and they are counted as having been treated within the [62-day] target.

“However, if the cancer is more advanced, there can be further cancer tissue in the body and patients will invariably then need definitive treatment of the cancer, such as surgery or radiotherapy,” Ashworth added.

Fight Bladder Cancer and the British Association of Urological Surgeons, who operate on bladder cancer patients, also want the loophole closed and waiting times to be equalised.

“We see the impact every day, with vulnerable patients left to wait far too long for potentially life-saving treatment, with devastating results.”

In England, about 18,000 people a year are diagnosed with bladder cancer and 4,500 die of it.

NHS Improvement, the health service regulator, acknowledged the problem in a report last year. It found that bladder cancer patients were waiting up to 144 days after being referred to undergo surgery or radiotherapy to tackle their invasive disease.

Surgery usually involves removing the bladder in a procedure called a cystectomy. Hancock’s Department of Health and Social Care did not respond to requests for comment.

But NHS sources pointed out that 77.8% of patients with urological malignancies had their treatment within 62 days during 2017-18.

Matt Case from Cancer Research UK said: “Despite the best efforts of NHS staff cancer patients – including patients diagnosed with bladder cancer – are waiting for more than two months to be treated for cancer after an urgent GP referral.”

“Staff shortages are harming the NHS’s ability to diagnose cancer quickly and at an earlier stage.”